However, critics point out Keys cherry-picked data from only seven countries out of 22 he studied, ignoring places like France where people eat lots of fatty foods but have low heart disease rates.
The study also didn’t account for other factors, like sugar consumption or lifestyle differences, and its methods for measuring diets weren’t reliable.
This flawed research influenced the American Heart Association and U.S. government to recommend cutting saturated fats in the 1960s and 1980s.But when scientists tested this idea with better experiments, the results didn’t hold up. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the 1960s and 1970s involved thousands of people swapping saturated fats for vegetable oils. These lowered cholesterol but didn’t reduce heart attacks or deaths.
For example, the Minnesota Coronary Survey with over 9,000 participants found no benefits, and its negative results were hidden for years.
Modern meta-analyses, which combine many studies, confirm this. One review of observational data showed no link between saturated fat and heart disease, stroke, or diabetes.
Another Cochrane review in 2020 found that reducing saturated fats cut cardiovascular events by 17%, but only when replaced with healthier options, and it didn’t lower death rates overall.
Some analyses even suggest no conclusive connection at all.
Experts now argue heart disease is more about inflammation than “clogged” arteries from fat. CHD involves plaque buildup from chronic swelling, not just cholesterol.
Studies like PREDIMED showed Mediterranean diets high in fats (like olive oil and nuts) reduced heart events by 30%, without cutting saturated fats much.
Refined carbs and sugars might be the real villains, raising insulin resistance and inflammation.
In fact, some research links higher saturated fat to less artery narrowing in women.
This shift challenges what doctors tell us. Guidelines still push low-fat diets, possibly due to old biases or industry ties, like vegetable oil companies funding early research.
But over 20 reviews since 2010 say limits on saturated fats aren’t needed.
The PURE study of 18 countries found saturated fats linked to lower mortality.
The war on saturated fat was based on shaky science and ignored better evidence. We should focus on whole foods, exercise, and reducing sugar instead. Rethinking this could lead to healthier advice and fewer heart problems.
- A short history of saturated fat: the making and unmaking of a scientific consensus
- Saturated fat does not clog the arteries: coronary heart disease is a chronic inflammatory condition
- Dietary saturated fat and heart disease: a narrative review
- Meta-analysis: No conclusive link between saturated fats and CV risk
- Reduction in saturated fat intake for cardiovascular disease
- We’re so indoctrinated that saturated fat is bad that we don’t listen to the science
“Our Entire War On Saturated Fat, Which Has Dominated The Healthcare Advice That We Get From Our Doctors, Has Been Wrong.”
“Our Entire War On Saturated Fat, Which Has Dominated The Healthcare Advice That We Get From Our Doctors, Has Been Wrong.”
Nicole ShanahanIn Fact, The Higher Your Cholesterol, The Longer You Live.
There Is Zero Correlation That Saturated Fat & Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease.… pic.twitter.com/5On9Hgh1RU
— Valerie Anne Smith (@ValerieAnne1970) July 12, 2025
Nicole Shanahan In Fact, The Higher Your Cholesterol, The Longer You Live. There Is Zero Correlation That Saturated Fat & Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease. Researchers have analyzed Ancel Keys data, using all 22 original countries, the “supposed’ link between saturated fat & heart disease totally VANISHED. Ancel Keys was a liar & a fraud. Ancel Keys “7 countries study” that made it look like heart disease was associated with fat intake was deceptive & false. He started with 22 countries & just tossed out the ones that didn’t fit his hypothesis! One of the most harmful things that has come from Keys’ studies was what the food industry/large health organizations did with this information & how they utilized it to sell more processed foods.
In 1961, Ancel Keys landed a position on the nutrition committee for the American Heart Association. That same year, the AHA advised Americans to replace the saturated fats in their diets with polyunsaturated fats. This prompted Americans to start utilizing PUFAs found in highly processed hydrogenated oils (i.e. corn, canola, crisco, soybean, etc.) instead of animal fats such as tallow, butter, ghee & lard. Those guidelines, which were supposed to eradicate cardiovascular disease, only added fuel to the fire as chronic disease skyrocketed. Keys also determined to test his hypothesis in the Minnesota Coronary Experiment which failed miserably & the results of the study were buried until 2016.
The MCE was a double blind controlled clinical trial in 6 Minnesota mental hospitals. Replacing butter with corn oil lowered cholesterol as predicted, but it raised cardiovascular disease & death. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute funded that study. It’s worth speculating how much expensive bad advice they continued to give in the 27 years from the study’s conclusion in 1989, until the exposition of the study’s actual results by Chris Ramsden in 2016. Industrialized toxic seed oils added onto a high sugar, processed carbohydrate, chemical filled diet has caused 93% of Americans to be metabolically unhealthy. The dramatic rise of the rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes & chronic autoimmune speak for themselves. Minnesota Coronary Experiment: Released
2016 bmj.com/content/353/bm Dangers Of ‘Heart Healthy’ Seed Oils megconnolly.com/2022/10/11/the The Higher Your LDL, The Longer You Live meddocsonline.org/annals-of-epid Speaker: @NicoleShanahanVideo:@meathealth
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